Hoekstra: To Defeat ISIS, We Must Work With Dodgy Nations

In order to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) and radical jihadists around the world, the United States will have to work with questionable nations, says former House Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra.

"For 30 years, we were aligned with [former President Hosni] Mubarak in Egypt, for almost a decade we were aligned with [the late President Muammar] Gadhafi in Libya to fight this threat from radical jihadists, and as much as this administration would not like to admit it, for almost a decade we were also aligned with [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad to fight radical jihadists," Hoekstra told Ed Berliner on "MidPoint" on Newsmax TV Thursday.

"Two of those folks, we threw under the bus," he explained. "The third is partially under the bus."

"Who can we work with?" he asked. "The bottom line is, if we are going to win against this threat from radical jihadists, we're going to have to work with people that we have questions about."

The Michigan Republican said that the Middle East ally that he trusts the least is Qatar.

"Qatar has had lots of issues supporting the Muslim brotherhood," he explained.

In addition, "we've had a love/hate relationship with Saudi Arabia for years, but especially in Saudi Arabia they may actually change their behavior now and become better allies because they are now recognizing that this threat of the Islamic caliphate may develop into a direct threat to the monarchy in Saudi Arabia," Hoekstra said.

In order to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) and radical jihadists around the world, the United States will have to work with questionable nations, says former House Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra.